Maybe We're The Same
by Sharpsword
Summary: AU. Geneva/Thoraxis. He doesn't understand humans, and she doesn't like him. But then the impossible happens. Originally posted on Milady/Milord.
1. Chapter 1

So... this started because... you know, why not? But it's fun, and I've already posted 11 on LJ, so I decided to post this story here as well. :D Tell me what you think; I love getting con crit.

I own nothing, just by the way.

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"The Inspector will come for me!" Geneva snaps, eyes flashing as she regards her captor with contempt.

Thoraxis smirks slowly and leans into Geneva's personal bubble. "Are you sure about that, Constable?" he purrs, softening his voice to a near-human tone.

She narrows her eyes looks away from his face, struggling in vain against her laser bonds. "Of course he will. We're friends."

Thoraxis snorts and looks at the dashboard of his DimensionShip (much bigger, much better than that stupid Model X7 Dimensionwhatshit of the Nitwit Inspector). "Yes, tell that to all his _other_ friends." Turning around sharply, he grins. "He'll forget about you and just get a new little human companion."

Geneva shakes her head. "You have _literally_ spent millennia chasing after the Inspector, but you still don't know him. He always says," her voice and expression transition into a softer emotion Thoraxis identifies as human affection, "that the friendships formed in the Dimensioniser are the closest one ever makes."

Thoraxis shakes his head in disdain. "Yes, but _you're_ just a temporary friend."

She looks stung and he smirks again. "Did I hit a nerve, _Temporary Constable_ Geneva?"

"No!" She says defiantly.

Striding forward, Thoraxis raises her chin with two fingers and looks into her eyes.

All he can see is deep, unswavering loyalty.

He sighs and lets her go.

Later, he leaves her at a restaurant in the Hakulpakaa Way, a small galaxy a few light years away from the Milky Way, and points her to a communication device.

"Why are you letting me go?" She demands, hands twisting the material of her shimmery-golden dress. She thinks he's tricking her.

Thoraxis observes her for a moment, and then shakes his head. "You're boring, Geneva Stilton."

He doesn't tell her that she doesn't need to call the Inspector. The wretched Knight had been following them since the planet of Ip'ka.


	2. Chapter 2

Thoraxis likes chaos. Pure, unadulterated chaos makes him happy – because chaos is the perfect moment to swoop down and take over everything.

And he means that literally. He's conquered three planets and a galaxy using this method.

Earth, of course, is most prone to chaos, so it would be ideal to conquer, especially since he knows the Inspector has a soft spot for humans, but Thoraxis decides to leave that planet alone.

It's a strategic decision. After all, the Milky Way can get very boring at that end. And hot, because it is far too close to a sun.

He decides to conquer a smaller sub-planet hovering close to the edge of the galaxy called Gacca.

Everything goes according to plan, until Blorgons take advantage of the planet's chaos to conquer it.

_Of all the nerve!_ Thoraxis seethes, surveying the scene from a secluded corner of the Gaccan King's court. _Stupid Blorgons don't have the cranial capacity to think of their own plan, so they steal mine?_

And right before he had been about to jump out (metaphorically), fix the chaos and yell for everyone to bow before him.

Thoraxis feels cheated.

He feels better when the Gaccan King pulls out weapons he hadn't been aware of and attacks the Blorgons.

In the resultant insanity, he slips out and makes his way back to his DimensionShip. Maybe he should spend some quiet time chasing the Inspector out of whatever obscure time period of Earth he's currently in. Conquering worlds seems to have become a much more difficult hobby than trying to defeat an Infinity Knight.

Suddenly, something soft hits him around his middle and pushes him down just a few feet short of his Ship.

Over head, a bright green laser winks out of view. It would have injured him. Looking down at his cuddly saviour, Thoraxis is surprised to see Temporary Constable Geneva brushing herself off as she rolls off of him.

"You saved me from a stray attack?" He asks, confused.

She nods. "You let me go that other time, so I'm repaying the favour. I don't like being in debt to anybody."

He's about to answer, but he spies on a battalion of Blorgon infantry making their way to them and he quickly grabs her and rolls them under the wing of his DimensionShip.

After checking to make sure the scum haven't seen them, he looks down at the human in his arms.

She looks irritated.

He's never been too good with human beings, but Thoraxis is pretty sure she's supposed to be grateful. Or in awe of his body, strength, and agility.

"What are you doing?!" She shrieks, and he covers her mouth.

"Blorgon infantry, Constable." He whispers, enjoying the way her eyes flash.

She pushes his hand off of hers and sits up cautiously. "Will your ship hide us?"

Thoraxis nods. "Lexa is equipped with an anti-detection field."

She raises her eyebrow. "Lexa?"

He narrows his eyes and she drops the conversation. After a few moments, she pushes at him. "Get off, of me, you big alien," she grumbles.

His mouth curves into a smirk. "Why? Your form is," he pauses and looks down at her, still half underneath him, "pleasing, so maybe I'll just stay like this."

She gasps indignantly and struggles out of his grasp, then stands up swiftly. "You're despicable. I just saved you-"

"-and then I saved _you_-"

"-you saved _both_ of us, and this time was just self-preservation, Thoraxis-"

"-I could have just let you hang around to be shot at-"

"-why must you be so distasteful?"

He sighs and shakes his head. This human is irritating.

"I _am_ distasteful, Constable." He looks at her sneer and shrugs. "Hey, I never told you to help me. It's your fault you did."

He jabs at the entryway of the Ship and watches the stairs descend.

"You know, this is classic human. You go and do things fuelled out of some sappy emotion, and then you expect the gesture to be returned, or you expect the same from everybody else-"

"If you think humans are so stupid, then why do you take our form?" She snaps.

"It's not my fault I look a little like your species, Constable. But believe me; my kind is better than yours by far. You and your race muck about with the emotions, the feelings… And we? We rise above the sloppy stuff and look at the bigger picture."

She shakes her head. "I'm definitely regretting helping you."

He points behind her at the Inspector's Dimensioniser that suddenly appears. "Don't let me keep you, then."

She huffs and stalks off, but Thoraxis can't resist a last jibe. "Till we meet again, _Temporary_ Constable."


	3. Chapter 3

They've been searching for Constable Reggie.

That's why she's with the Inspector right now. Because she's helping him look for his best friend, who went mysteriously missing after the two of them dropped in on the Second World War on Earth. _("We wanted to see what Hitler looked like.")_

They've looked in one and a half galaxies, and 3 planets.

But he's nowhere to be found.

So finally, after they leave Gacca, she persuades the Inspector to take a few minutes off, so they can rethink strategies.

Truth be told, she's a little frazzled, and she'd really like to go to a planet that she _belongs_ to.

_Even though Earth seems less and less like home,_ Geneva thinks to herself. Almost immediately, she berates herself for the thought. She just hasn't been home for a long time, so she's feeling a little lost.

The Inspector takes her to Victorian England, and only needs a little more persuading to change into clothes that won't make the locals wonder where he is from. (Hiding the Booth, unfortunately, is harder than getting the Inspector and herself a change of clothes.)

"I think Thoraxis kidnapped Reggie," she tells him loftily, as they walk through a peaceful meadow. A part of her is still stung because of Thoraxis' jabs.

The Inspector shakes his head.

"You don't understand Thoraxis. He's materialistic. So for him, conquering worlds, winning over priceless objects, and acquiring items of high value are more important to him than revenge or something like it. He's evil and vain… not cruel."

Geneva furrows her eyebrows. "But he hates you, Inspector. And he keeps trying to defeat you. So why wouldn't he kidnap one of your fri-"

"He hates me because I've thwarted him a countless number of times. So he sees me as a threat. An obstacle in his path to being renown. But he has no patience, and he wouldn't kidnap Reggie, just because it would be hard work."

She silently processes this new information. It makes sense, and explains why Thoraxis is perpetually shirtless.

They see a simple swing hanging from a tree and she rushes over, delighted. A part of her feels mushy – the Inspector is well aware of her love for little romantic things like this, and it feels nice to know that he's taken her here.

They swing together a little, humming a little ditty they'd heard in the 21st century.

Her peace of mind, however, is continuously broken by a niggling question that seems to be voiced by someone who sounds a lot like stupid Thoraxis.

Finally, she sighs and gives in to the voice.

"How long does this probationary term go on for?" She asks.

The Inspector looks vaguely surprised, and she hurries to explain, because she doesn't want to seem ungrateful, or seem like she's trying to replace Constable Reggie.

"It's just, when I'm called _Temporary Constable_ Geneva, it sounds like I'm not as important, and I know that's not true, but… I don't know, it doesn't feel right. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be selfish…"

_Yes, fine job of explaining that, Geneva,_ she thinks crossly.

"Who calls you that?"

She sighs. "Thoraxis. And he makes me seem like such a _child_. I know I shouldn't care about what he says-"

"But you do." She looks at her companion, and he continues. "That's part of the reason Thoraxis finds it so easy to conquer. He's a born leader, and he's fully equipped with charm."

Geneva raises her eyebrows. "Oh. Really?"

He nods. "But to answer your question, Temporary Constable probation only lasts for a little while."

He tilts his head and lets out a small smile. "Before you know it, you'll be a proper Constable, Geneva, and nobody can say otherwise."

They stop swinging and get up, heading aimlessly forwards.

"One thing."

She turns to look at the Inspector. "Yes?"

He looks into her eyes for a moment, and then opens his mouth. "Watch out for Thoraxis. He's wily, and he seems bored. If he knows that you were affected by his words, he'll try harder to confuse you."

Geneva shakes her head and starts walking again.

"Don't worry, Inspector. I'll handle him. If we meet again."


	4. Chapter 4

"Inspector, where are we?" Geneva asks shakily, straightening the sleeves of her dress as she looks around.

"It's not where, Constable, but when," her friend says, stepping out of the Booth. He stops and looks her in the eye. "And you know exactly when we are."

She bites her lip. "Fine, I know. But why? You said you had a lead about Reggie, why are we… here?"

The Inspector points to the breathtaking view of a city she knows like the back of her hand. "Because my lead is currently _here_, Geneva."

She wants to press him further for information, but all she can do is worry.

They're in London. In her time.

And they're standing on top of London bridge, wearing a bathrobe and a golden sheet-dress.

Within a few hours, she breaks into Marks and Spencer's (is it breaking and entering if she just uses the Booth to transport the Inspector and her into the store?), steals a few clothes, some money, and manages to sit the ever-inquisitive Inspector down at an old café she used to haunt when she was a teenager.

She takes a few moments to get used to the fact that she is wearing plain jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and a jacket instead of a flimsy dress. She doesn't look at her companion, because even _he_ is dressed in skinny jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, and she can't…

She can't handle the _normalcy._

Taking a sip of tea, she grits her teeth and opens her mouth to ask him more about his 'lead', the one so important he'd yanked them quickly out of the 16th century Germany and straight into 21st century London.

"You won't approve of my lead."

She frowns. "Who is it?"

"He doesn't know we're going to meet."

Pushing her tea aside, she leans forward and rests her elbows on the small table between them. "Inspector…" she warns, aware of his tendency to create – and drag her along on – slightly harebrained schemes.

"I figured it out when we were in Tyrol. There's one person we haven't asked for help, but he'd bound to know something, because he has his thumb in almost every important planet in this galaxy. No matter the time."

She raises her eyebrows. "And who, pray tell, is this magnificent being who you have failed to ever mention…" she trails off, rethinking his words.

Oh no.

"Inspector, you can't be serious!" She whispers, scandalised.

He shakes his head once. "I am."

She studies him. She's aware that he frequently forgets to modulate his tone of voice, but this time, she's sure he's serious. He picks up his own cup of tea, takes a long draught, and then places it down. "We're here to meet Thoraxis."

There are a million thoughts in her mind (_what is he even doing here? Why are you going to trust your sworn enemy? Why would he help? How did you know he was here? How will we find him?_), but she latches onto a silly one and voices it.

"But… he's green."


	5. Chapter 5

"So… Thoraxis is on Earth, for reasons you aren't aware of, but you've tracked him with a device you created long ago all the way up to… here?" Geneva asks the Inspector slowly, watching him fiddle with what looks like an old-school mobile phone.

He nods.

Looking at the crowded area they're in, Geneva lets out a frustrated sigh. "But you can't track him down any further? The locator can only give us a _general_ area?"

The Inspector nods again.

"Inspector, you do realize that we're at _Trafalgar Square? _And according to your device, he could be anywhere here?" She gestures helplessly at the National Museum. "He could be there for all we know."

"We'll just have to split up and search." He says, stuffing his locator into his pocket.

He takes off, then turns around after a few steps. "I may need you to tell me where to go. The last time I was here, the museum didn't exist."

She lets out a weary giggle. "How about you go inside the Museum and search there, while I look outside?"

xxx

"I wish he'd just stayed green," Geneva mutters to herself, pushing through a group of tourists taking pictures. She's been looking around for an hour now, fully aware of how easily she can miss Thoraxis – especially if he sees her first and decides to avoid her.

She doesn't even know what kind of disguise she's looking for. Thoraxis is incredibly vain, though, so she assumes that he wouldn't have changed his facial structure or body type too much.

"Which narrows my search down to tall, vaguely handsome men." She thinks dourly, side stepping a five year old child…

… promptly colliding into another person.

She loses her balance and starts to fall back, but a strong arm grabs her shoulder and steadies her. She looks up crossly at the concerned face of a very good-looking stranger and feels her irritation melt away.

"Are you alright?" He asks, his deep voice coloured with concern.

She tries not to blush _(you're a grown woman who has fought _Blorgons_ before!) _and nods gratefully. "Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"I noticed," he says, smirking slightly. "You seem to be searching for something."

"Oh, just an acquaintance," she says dismissively. "I'm not… entirely sure what he's wearing or where he is exactly-"

"I hope you find him," the man cuts in with another disarming smile.

They nod at each other and he walks away.

Geneva smiles to herself. _So there are still good humans around here,_ she thinks happily, walking forward again.

_I wish I'd met him at a club or something, and not like this. _

His words repeat in her mind. _"I hope you find him."_

Suddenly, she stops. His voice… she knows that voice.

Turning swiftly, she stares at the back of the man's head, quickly retreating into the distance.

_Thoraxis? _

xxx

"So why have you and the Nitwit followed me here?" Thoraxis asks.

Geneva, still slightly creeped out by Human! Thoraxis and his lack of antennae, takes a moment to answer. "He'll tell you himself," she says loftily, leading him to the bar that she and the Inspector had decided would be their rendezvous point.

She stays determinedly silent till they're sitting down in a dark booth and nursing bottles of beer. "The one good thing about your world is alcohol," Thoraxis says, taking a long pull from his bottle. Geneva rips her eyes away from the sight of his scruff-covered throat moving with each gulp and looks down at her own bottle. "There's nothing close on other planets?" She asks, working to keep her voice pleasant.

Setting the bottle down, he beckons a waitress. "One bottle of your best single-malt scotch," he tells her, sounding bored.

Looking back at Geneva, he shakes his head. "There are… some things that have more or less the same effect, but they're medicinal, or poisonous. There's a star near Saturn, and its population has developed something called _kii, _but it's so potent they use it as a weapon. You humans have this _one_ unique item, and it's perfect for recreation."

The waitress comes up with an expensive looking bottle and a glass, then sets it down gingerly on the table. She hovers for a few moments. "What?" He asks, keeping his eyes on Geneva.

"Um, well, this quite expensive, sir and…"

Thoraxis finally looks at the waitress. For a few seconds, he looks in her eyes calmly as her voice peters off doubtfully. "Go away," he says quietly, voice resounding with authority and something else Geneva can't quite put a finger on.

She turns swiftly and walks away.

"What did you do to her?!" Geneva gasps, furious. "She was being nice to you-"

"Listen, I'm not here to make friends or hobnob with lower-level human workers," Thoraxis says, uncapping his bottle. "And don't worry, I just convinced her to do something else. I'm bending her reality a little bit."

Disarmed, Geneva frowns. "You can do that?"

He nods, taking a sip of amber liquid.

She gestures in his direction. "And is that how you're so… not-green and tentacle-y?"

For second, she thinks she sees his mouth twitch upwards in a grin, but she blinks and his face is back to its usual disapproval. She puts it down to a momentary hallucination.

"Yes. I can influence people's perception of reality to make them see or hear what they want." She raises her eyebrows. No wonder he's so… well, magnetic.

Clearing his throat, Thoraxis drops his glass down on the table (_it's already empty? How much can he drink?)._ "Okay, no more beating around the bush. Where's the Inspector and why isn't he here yet? I have things to do, and amusing as it is to annoy you, my jobs are actually more important than sitting and drinking with a human."

She narrows her eyes, and then gestures at the door. "Fine. Leave."

His eyes widen. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Leave."

Neither of them move and she grins mockingly. "See, Thoraxis, I _know _you're not going to want to leave. No matter how late the Inspector gets."

He leans forward on the table, elbows brushing the surface. "And why is that?"

"You're curious. You want to know why we took the trouble to find you and what we want. You know you're not going to get anything out of _me_. So it doesn't matter if I annoy you, or if another human throws a _chair_ at your head. You're going to wait."

He leans back and picks up the bottle to pour a fresh glass of scotch. "Someone's become smarter."

She takes a sip of beer. "Being kidnapped and harassed by evil green cockroaches does that to a person."

He rolls his eyes. "I suppose that's supposed to be an insult aimed at my usual appearance."

She smiles angelically and nods.

"You can't blame me. You even have the outer-shell thing on your arm and part of your face."

"For my species – for most species, really – I'm an extremely good-looking being." Leaning forward, his voice becomes a little husky. "And you may not like it, but I know you at least like this human form of mine." She feels her heart skip a beat, but quickly leans away from him.

"Don't try your stupid perception thing on me, Thoraxis. It won't work." She mutters, edging away.

"I wasn't." He lies easily, shifting backwards.

Suddenly, his expression changes and he looks towards the door. "The Nitwit is finally here."

She doesn't know how he sensed the Inspector, but sure enough, her friend is threading his way through numerous bar stools towards them.


	6. Chapter 6

"Stop looking at me like that," Thoraxis snaps, a deep frown marring his face.

Geneva raises her eyebrows coolly. "I wasn't aware that I was looking at you any differently than usual."

He sneers at her, jamming his hands into his fancy-looking coat pocket. "Stop acting _and_ looking like you're better than me."

She snorts. "I'm not lo-"

"Sure."

Something inside of her snaps and she turns and swats his arm. "Ugh, you're the worst!"

He raises his eyebrows mockingly at her. "Well, look at who is telling the truth now."

"You know what? Yes! _Yes,_ I think I'm better than you. No, I _know_ I'm better than you!" She finally says, suddenly aware that she's really, _extremely_ angry. He opens his mouth to retaliate, but she barrels on, determined to finish speaking.

"Because you know what? If I had the power to help somebody with something important, something like finding_ their best friend, _I would help out! It wouldn't matter to me if that person was my worst enemy."

Thoraxis lets out a cruel laugh. "Oh, sure, I'm selfishly looking out for my own interests, this _definitely_ makes me worse than the pure little human." He eyes her, then walks forward predatorily and leans into her bubble. "Or maybe, it doesn't," he whispers, keeping his eyes on hers, "because, despite the fact that she keeps trying _so hard_ to be good, she's _just_ as flawed and selfish as me."

She pushes at his shoulder. "You don't even know me! Stop trying to defle-"

"I know you enough to know that when I call you Temporary Constable, it hits a nerve. I know that you're so determined to get what you want right now that you don't care what I may be up to, you just want your information, so you and the Nitwit can be on you merry way." She opens her mouth to argue, but he continues.

"You're just as selfish as me, Constable. So, _no._ You're not allowed to look at me like that. Because you're _not_ better than me."

She narrows her eyes (stops herself from stomping her foot on the ground, because whatever, she's not eighteen any more) and resists the urge to walk away.

"Do you really think so, Thoraxis?" She asks softly.

Next to them, there's a reddish flash of light growing, announcing the arrival of the Inspector and the Booth. After Thoraxis had unceremoniously rejected the Inspector's offer of a truce in exchange for possible information on Reggie, he had left to retrieve the Booth from the obscure parking lot/swimming pool she knows he must have left it in.

The Inspector steps out, back in his usual attire, glances at the dank alleyway they're in for a moment, before gesturing to Geneva. "Come on." He says, voice sounding robotic.

Her heart breaks at the sound. Sure, sometimes she wishes she could just be a proper Constable to the Inspector (she trained in zero gravity martial arts too, okay?), but right now, she can't think of anything worse than seeing him deprived of his very best friend.

She sends one withering look at Thoraxis, before swishing around and heading towards the Booth.

"The Keets."

She freezes, and then turns back to Thoraxis, who is looking up at the sky with a grimace. "I overheard that a ship of Keets had landed somewhere on your world." He looks straight at the Inspector.

"You know as well as I do what that means."

Swiftly, Geneva turns back to her friend. She has no idea who Thoraxis is talking about.

But the Inspector, apparently does. With dismay mounting in his eyes, he nods quietly at Thoraxis. "Thank you."

When she looks back in his direction, Thoraxis sends her a loaded look; its meaning is clear.

_You don't know me._

Then he walks out of the alley and disappears around the corner.


	7. Chapter 7

"You have no idea what an easy life you have," Geneva mutters, watching a shark swim lazily past her. Next to her, a five year old child and his mother give her a look and sidle away, clearly eager to get away from the crazy lady talking to a large fish.

Sighing, Geneva resists the urge to bang her forehead against the glass in front of her and checks the time. It's roughly close to closing time, so she turns and stalks out of the Shark Walk exhibit.

There's a bit of a crowd at the exit, as little children try and get away from their parents to stare a little more at the thousands of fish surrounding them, and as parents apologise to security guards crossly trying to chivvy them all out. Taking advantage of the expected bustle, she quickly dives to the side, finds a bathroom and gets into it. Quickly, she crosses to one stall and locks herself in.

Nobody comes looking for her, and for the next hour she hears the place empty and lights switch off. Walking out cautiously, Geneva looks around. The place is dark and quiet.

She's alone.

Stealthily, she creeps around, checking for signs of maintenance staff, or security. She focuses on sticking to shadows, so her progress isn't checked by the security cameras, but she doesn't really spare them too much thought.

The Inspector has given her a blocker that is creating some sort of shield around her, making her invisible to the camera anyway. She's only taking precautions in case the Inspector accidentally sits on the controls in the Booth and manages to switch the off button.

It's happened before.

After a thorough search, she reaches in her pocket, pulls out her cellphone and places a call to the Inspector.

Within moments, there's a pulsing red light and the X7 appears in front of her, out of which tumble two figures – one calmly talking in his surroundings, and one grumpily brushing off his shoulder.

"There's no space in your bloody contraption." Thoraxis mutters.

The Inspector rips his eyes away from the environment and turns to him. "Nonsense. There's always room-"

"-for one more. Yeah, yeah. I've heard you say that before." Thoraxis grumbles, pulling a glossy Sea Life London Aquarium brochure out of his pocket. "Where the hell in this watery museum are we?"

"We're at the Pacific Ocean Tank." Geneva pipes up. With a touch of pride – she is, after all, speaking to two tourists – she adds a little extra information. "Though you should also see the penguin exhibit. The penguins are _adorable_."

"Aren't those the little, flappy, fat white things with the ridiculous beaks?" Thoraxis asks, crumpling up the brochure and lobbing it aimlessly behind him.

She picks it up crossly and chucks it in a dustbin. "Yes. And don't _litter_. We're only borrowing the place."

He rolls his eyes, then turns to the Inspector. "Well. It's your show, Inspector. Do something. Delegate tasks." His form flickers, and the back of his neck turns green.

"The Keets await."

Nodding, the Inspector stalks off into the gloom, then returns almost immediately.

"Geneva. Did you track down where _eels_ are most likely to be living?"

She has no idea why he's asking, since neither the Inspector nor Thoraxis have been too forthcoming about what on Earth the Keets are, but she's nothing if not good at her work.

Nodding, she points in the direction, and the Inspector sets off quickly, flashing his quantum spanner around.

Thoraxis follows, muttering, and Geneva hastens to follow them.

"Are you going to stay green the entire time?" She asks Thoraxis, inspite of herself.

He gives her a look. "We switched off all the cameras, so yes. I don't particularly like looking human. Your form is extremely boring. No armour, and all that unnecessarily brown coloured skin. And I have no idea how you walk around without a good pair of antennae."

She feels like he's forcing his tone to stay light, but she ignores his obvious irritation with her (she still stands by everything she had said before) in lieu of asking him about something vastly more important that she has just noticed.

"What happened to your arm?!" She asks, noting how his right arm looks _exceedingly_ like his left. Which means he _doesn't_ have his usual steely plate of armour that tapers to a funny sort of tentacle. She'd assumed that he just had some sort of funny tentacle/arm thing, but now...

The alien lets out a bark of laughter. "Did you honestly think that was my arm?"

He doesn't let her answer.

"If I get hurt, my body heals itself, at least for most injuries. That includes my arm getting cut off."

She raises her eyebrows. "Your arm got _cut off?"_

He nods. "Over three years ago." He takes a look at her appalled expression and smirks. "Yes, it takes time. Instead of walking around with a stump I just decided to upgrade myself to something interesting for a while."

His tone, now, suggests that she's a bit stupid to have not known all this, and she bristles. Before either of them can say something, though, there's a shout from ahead and she runs in the direction it came from.

"Inspector?" She cries, coming to a stop before the Inspector, who is peering through into a tank at... nothing.

"You found it?" Thoraxis asks from the shadows.

Her friend nods, and then looks up inexplicably.

"We need to get to the top, where the tank opens."

They proceed upwards, the Inspector muttering to himself about crowns of some sort, while Geneva can feel Thoraxis' gaze burning a hole in her back.

After ten minutes, they're standing on a sort of grill, looking down at the opening of a very big tank of eels.

The water looks solid blue, and murky. "I don't see any eels." She says, puzzled.

"Exactly." The Inspector declares emphatically, opening a fuse box next to them on the wall. "They've switched on a shield." He twists his spanner around a few times, then turns to Geneva.

"Now look."

She turns, and bites back a scream, backing away till her back hits the wall behind her.

Instead of empty water, now she can see thousands of slimy, steel-grey bodies.

The two aliens next to her speak in unison, one sounding fascinated, the other, cheerful.

"_Those _are Keets."


	8. Chapter 8

"What are they?"

"Aliens."

"Inspector."

"They're amphibious creatures that live off symbiotic relationships. They spend most of their time in water, but when they're on land they wrap around the head of a host and take control of the body."

Geneva paces back and forth, her own footsteps echoing around them as she glumly listens to the Inspector describe what might be the creepiest looking aliens she has ever encountered.

"They're the perfect parasites." The Inspector says almost reverently, peering over the railing to look at the slimy grey bodies swimming beneath him. "When they're in the water, they're fast and impossible to catch, though completely blind. And when they're attached to their host, it's hopeless to even try and get them off involuntarily, because then they embed themselves deeper into the skin and pull the layer separating it and the brain clean off, including all forms of bone. They-"

Feeling slightly squeamish, she stops him.

"What are we going to do?"

"Nothing." Thoraxis says finally, turning to face her. "You two leave, and let me take care of this scum."

Before she can voice her protest, the Inspector snaps out of his (inappropriate) awe and stares at his enemy. "You'll kill them."

"Yes."

"No."

"This isn't your fight, Inspector."

And suddenly, something clicks. This is why Thoraxis has come to London. It's no coincidence; he's been tracking the Keets too. And he believes it's his fight.

But why?

"What happens if a Keet invasion is successful?"

Thoraxis, his voice low, answers her. "Either all the beings on the planet go insane, or the water gets so polluted the planet becomes inhabitable. The Keets take in other gases like oxygen or hydrogen and covert them to a special kind of substance found in the water bodies of their planets. Unfortunately, it's found _only_in their planets, so the environment of the new planet is rendered hostile in a little over fifty  
years." He pauses, then adds, as an afterthought: "Usually".

Swallowing hard, Geneva turns and bangs her fist against the wall next to her.

Predictably, it doesn't help at all and she slumps against the door, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Stress headache?" The Inspector asks from the shadows he's lurking in.

She nods and sighs, sliding down to the ground.

Then she frowns and looks up at her friend. Why _is _he creeping around the shadows like a shady merchant on the planet Deafen Fa Jinn (a tiny planet with notoriously seedy - and popular - markets).

"Inspector?"

He looks at her, then shoves something red and small into his pocket. Clearing his throat, he looks at Thoraxis and speaks. With a shiver, she hears the stern disapproval in his voice.

"You can't do this."

"And you're going to stop me, I take it?" Thoraxis sneers, stepping forward and crossing his arms.

"You can't murder-"

"There's no other way."

"There always is."

Frowning, Geneva watches as the two of them talk, the Inspector maintaining a level, almost robotic tone while Thoraxis struggled to keep his controlled.

Suddenly, she realizes something.

"It's not your place to do anything anyway." She snaps, standing up.

They look at her in surprise (oh god, did they actually forget she'd been sitting there?) for a moment, then Thoraxis opens his mouth, but she cuts him off.

"This is my planet. Neither of you are supposed to be doing _anything_."

The Inspector nods, then takes a step back from Thoraxis. "You're right. Y-"

"And how exactly do you think you're going to save your planet?" Thoraxis asks, adopting a cruel tone. His whole demeanor changes, and she gets the feeling that he's going to call her any number of variations of _childish._

"Because I've been where you are, Geneva," he continues, "I know how you're feeling, and how you're going to be feeling. And there is nothing you can do, short of killing them. All."

She tamps down on her urge to punch him and tries to keep her voice civilized.

"You lost-"

"Yes, I lost my home. And I had been helpless then. So now that I know what to do, I want my revenge."

"How are you even planning on killing them?"

"They can't be killed in the water. So I'll wait until they take control of their new hosts. And by the looks of it, today seems like the day they take their hosts."

"You knew," she realizes. "You knew that today they would take control of new hosts." She frowns. "How?"

He shrugs easily. "Bar gossip."

A pause.

"So why did you help us at all, then?" She asks.

"Because he didn't know where to look." The Inspector finally pipes up from behind her, and the two of them turn to look at him scrutinizing a blinking red something in his hand.

"What is that?" She asks, hope flaring in her chest. He always thinks of something, and if she has no idea what the hell it is, then there's a bigger chance that it's helpful.

"It was made with two others of its kind. When one is close to the other, then they start to blink."

She looks down at the blinking red uncomprehendingly.

"Where's the other, then?"

"With Reggie."

Eyes widening, she gasps as more pieces fall into place. She walks forward swiftly to peer at the little bulb, keeping one eye on Thoraxis, whose antennae are waving around impatiently.

"You were the one who led us here. You knew he was in London, over here." She breathes out, picking up the little shining glass object.

She drops it back into his hand and smacks his shoulder. "Why on Earth didn't you tell me?!"

The Inspector scrutinizes his little bulb. "I wasn't sure. It could have been malfunctioning."

They stare at the bulb a little more.

She swivels and looks at the alien behind her. "You knew. About him being here. And he's in line to be a host, isn't he?"

"After so many years of fighting the nitwit and his boyfriend, you think I wouldn't notice a few things?" Thoraxis asks, bored. "I knew that the Constable was missing, and when I heard about the Keets on Earth, I just put two and two together." He smiles mockingly. "I didn't even roam around time and space to do it."

She glares at him. "Fine, Thoraxis. You're a genius. You used us. Yay."

He shoots her a dirty look, which morphs into curiosity. "Why are you so calm?"

Unsettled, she stares at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

He nods slowly, studying her. "You think I'm going to listen to because _you put your foot down."_

She takes a step away from him. "How did you even-"

"I told once before. You may look like me, but I have a few more skills than your whole race combined."

She narrows her eyes. "Except decency, apparently."

The magnitude of what Thoraxis is planning to do strikes her and, horrified, she sucks in her breath. "When you say they can only be killed when they're on their hosts, you mean _they _can be killed because _their hosts _can be killed."

"Good. You figured it out. Now why don't you let me..." He trails off, but starts walking slowly towards her. The tension in his muscles and subtle shifts of his posture tell her exactly what he'd planning on doing.

"Inspector..." She says quietly, keeping her eyes on Thoraxis.

She hears him move behind her and she relaxes for a few seconds, before adopting a fighting stance.

"I'm not letting you murder a bunch of human beings, Thoraxis. Especially not our friend."

"Why?" He asks, coming to a stop in front of her. "If the good Constable dies, won't you be getting a _promotion?_"

She lashes out, throwing a punch at him, but he moves far too quickly for it to land. "I am not going to ever give up a friend for something silly like that!"

He tilts his head to the right and smirks. "Really? Would you really be _so _selfless?"

Anger bubbles within her and she strikes again, barely grazing his stomach before he sidesteps her once more.

"Thoraxis. I get that you feel like you need revenge, but if you don't let me do things my own way, then I'll be just as tortured as you." She huffs out, ignoring his jibes.

He pretends to consider her words, then pulls out a tiny gun from his pocket and shoots both her and the Inspector.

Xxx

They wake up in a dirty cupboard.

She stands up and curses fluently in three different languages before turning on the Inspector. "Why didn't you do anything?!" She cries.

"Because he's found us." The Inspector says with satisfaction.

"Who did?" She asks wearily.

"Reggie. See?" He holds up the bulb, which has started to blink quickly. "The blinking shows that he's coming closer."

Frowning, she grabs the Inspector's arm, feeling hope rise up inside of her. "How can he be free to move towards us, Inspector?"

He looks her in the eye. "Today's loading day, Geneva. There will be chaos. The humans set to be hosts won't be controlled very rigidly. And if that's so, then Reggie could easily-"

There's a knock on the door, then a rattle.

"- escape."

They hear a deep thud from the door, before it suddenly falls inward. Geneva and the Inspector move away in time, then look up in unison.

A grinning face stares right back at them.

"Come on, then."

They walk out, and the moment the bluish light of their surroundings hits them, she sees the Inspector shaking hands with Constable Reggie.


	9. Chapter 9

"There are five aliens from the planet Glop who are supervising everything," Reggie tells Geneva and the Inspector, as they run through the corridors stealthily. "They're hosts, and there are about twenty thousand Keets in the water. They're doing this trial run-thing, to see if Earth is going to work out for them."

Geneva frowns as she checks around one corner for enemies. She's seen Glopians. They're the fattest, laziest aliens in the world – until they're motivated to fight for something, in which case they become unstoppably scary, for most other species.

Not humans. Human bullets and lasers are extremely dangerous for Glopians. She's taken out eleven herself (the Battle of Plexi on the planet Glop, when she had been stranded there with Constable Reggie during a political coup).

The Keets must not have cared about how vulnerable the Glopians would be, if humans saw them.

She feels angry all over again.

They are a corridor away from the tank when she motions the other two to stop.

They look at her expectantly, and she takes a deep breath.

"I know how to get them out of here. The Keets. At least, I think I know."

Quickly, she tells them how, when she was a child, one of her older cousins had taken her around the aquarium for a secret tour.

"There are aquarium heaters, or tank heaters everywhere," Geneva says. "If we find and tamper the one that's connected to the Keet tank, then we can make sure that the water gets a lot hotter than it should be."

She pauses to gauge the reactions of her friends.

The Inspector shakes his head, and her heart sinks. "It's still murder, Constable."

"Actually…" Reggie says slowly, eyes far away. "The Glopians are around to help and protect the Keets. So if we change the temperature, and then threaten to kill them, then the Glopians will have to submit."

With rising hope, Geneva beams at Reggie and turns back to the Inspector. "We just have to blackmail them to leave!" She whispers excitedly.

Nodding, the Inspector's eyes shine with approval. "Let's make a plan."


	10. Chapter 10

Geneva slips into the crowd of scared humans easily, approaching the big tank of Keets.

A loud splash reaches her ears, and she winces, trying to push away the image of the captive humans being pushed into the Keet tank. A long line (policed by grumpy looking Glopians) of reluctant humans stretches out in front of her, so she pushes aside the thought and focuses on moving forward. It is unsurprisingly easy, since nobody else wants to go ahead.

As she gets closer to her destination, Geneva slips a hand inside her pocket to grip the quantum spanner inside. A warm glow of pride heats her chest, because the fact that the Inspector has given her the job to tamper with the heater means that he trusts her ability to succeed.

And really, that just makes everything okay.

Well, not everything. The whole Keets thing still sucks, but it's okay that she's not a full Constable, and Reggie is. She feels _validated._

Suddenly a strong hand grabs her upper arm, and she is hauled aside.

Immediately, Geneva aims two rigid fingers in the general direction of where a Glopian's eye usually is, only to hit… a bony throat.

It's _Thoraxis._

They struggle quietly for a few moments (she only pretends so that she can use the scuffle to push the spanner down deep into her pocket), before Thoraxis manages to overpower her. He's pulled her into a dark cupboard (another janitor's closet, she assumes from the smell of bleach), and is pressed up against her.

"I should have known you'd get out," he says silkily in her ear, his hands searching her sides for weapons.

She thinks. Why else would his hands be moving up and down her waist?

"I told you, this is my planet," she bites out roughly, pushing him away so her head can clear a little. He's wearing his human disguise and the unshaved, handsome stranger towering over her unsettles her.

"And I told you-"

"-I don't give a damn." She whispers.

For a second, they stare at each other in the gloomy cupboard, then Geneva sighs. This isn't a battle she can win. "Help me, Thoraxis." She says softly.

"And why would saying that work?" There's a note of surprise in his words, and she knows that he never expected her to ask.

She looks up at him to fix him with a glare. "Because no matter how much you pretend, Thoraxis, I know you actually do have feelings."

He tries to cut in smoothly, but she ignores him just as easily. "The very fact that you're spending so much time getting revenge on the Keets for ruining your planet proves that."

He's silent for a few moments, and panic starts to build in her stomach, but she forces herself to keep steady, to stay calm. _He'll know the moment your emotions spike,_ she reminds herself.

He lets out a heavy sigh, then two cool fingers slip under her chin and tilt her face up. Thoraxis stares contemplatively into her eyes, then pulls away.

"Fine." He takes a full step backwards, and Geneva lets out a sigh she didn't know she had been holding. "What's your plan?"

Narrowing her eyes, she shakes her head. "If this is some ploy to fin-"

"You have the Nitwit's quantum spanner in your pocket. I haven't taken it, which means-"

"-that doesn't mean it's not an elaborate ploy."

They argue in heated whispers for a few more minutes, and it takes about two minutes more for her to explain the plan to him.

He places his fingers lightly on the sides of her neck, and closes his eyes in concentration.

They leave the closet looking like two Glopians. It's immediately obvious that the move was very much required, because she would never have reached the surprisingly organized tank.

The plan goes off without a hitch.

She shivers a little when she sees his pleased expression at the sight of the Keets boiling in their tank. She wonders if she's wearing the same expression, because he sends her a half-proud, strange look.

But when the Inspector succeeds in sending the Keet invasion back, she's just _happy. _(And busy, because they have to quickly help out the other humans.)

She sees Reggie and the Inspector shake hands, just as they bid Thoraxis adieu (having decided on a short period of peace with the Inspector), and with a sinking feeling in her heart, knows what she has to do next.


	11. Chapter 11

"Are you sure about this?" The Inspector asks her with a sharp look, one last time.

She nods and waves a decisive goodbye to the two men poking their heads out of the thin red booth she loves so much.

Within moments, they're gone, leaving only the image of the Booth burned into her eyes. Looking around her apartment with a sigh, she flops down on her sofa.

Strangely, she feels good. Maybe it'll be easier for her to try being normal.

Maybe.

Just as she's debating on whether or not to make a cup of tea (in an actual kitchen!), there's a knock on her front door. Thanking all possible gods that she had exchanged her dress for a cardigan and skirt, she moves to open the door.

A familiar-not-familiar man stands in front of her. He moves past her swiftly, pushes the door closed behind him, and picks her up.

The air around Thoraxis flutters as he sheds his disguise and switches to his original green form. She feels her body relax (seriously, is she so used to alien forms that human bodies unsettle her?), and is almost immediately slammed into a wall. Cool lips press down on hers, as strong arms gather her close to his body.

"What're…. you doing?" She asks half-heartedly, kissing Thoraxis back (there's no question of resisting; she doesn't _want_ to, she doesn't want to _think_ or _do_ anything else but _this_).

"I wanted to do this earlier… In the closet… in front... of everyone…" He gasps, kissing the side of her neck before capturing her lips once more.

She pulls away from him, and they take deep breaths, hands still entwined around each other.

"Okay," she says quietly, yanking him down again.


End file.
